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The former Buffalo Sabres' tough-guy has kept busy through the lockout helping make sure the club's alumni stays active by helping fill the charitable void left by the fact the regular NHLers aren't around to raise valuable funds.

While Ray's done his best to keep the giving alive, he's only a spectator in this lockout. But he hopes cooler heads prevail between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association and a collective bargaining agreement gets put in place.

"I still think it's going to happen at the beginning of January with a 40-to-50 game season," Ray said Wednesday from Buffalo. "I just think it's too important. They can't risk (losing another year).

"You hear from people, 'The fans will come back.' But, there's just a really bitter feeling and I just don't see why they're risking what they've created."

Ray isn't blaming the owners or the players. He believes both sides have to share responsibility for not being able to get a deal in place to avoid this mess, but he did note that commissioner Gary Bettman has a track record.

"I could sit and say Bettman is a jerk but he's done a decent job growing the game and with TV packages," said Ray, a colour analyst on Sabres' broadcasts on MSG. "You have to give him credit for that. But, when it comes to this stuff, it becomes all about him. In that way, he is making a bit of a fool of himself.

"He could be the hero with the game growing, the revenues the way they are and people in the buildings. I think he's a bit of gambler thinking that everybody is going to come back. I just think he's risking too much."

When -- and if -- the NHL does return this season, the fans will likely return in all seven Canadian cities, plus hockey markets in the United States like Buffalo, Boston, Minnesota and Chicago. It won't be the case everywhere.

"Where the game has come from one night a week on Hockey Night in Canada, to all the local markets and now there's hockey on TV every night. Think of the all the interest that has been created, but it's not embedded into people (in some places in the United States)," said Ray. "It's a little different story in Buffalo, but you get south of Pennsylvania and hockey can be a forgotten sport. There's too many other things to replace it."

Ray threw a lot of punches in his career and he understands the players not wanting to back down, but he believes in the end they'll emerge winners if they get an agreement.

"I can agree with the players. I get the fact they need to get what they want," said Ray. "In my view, from experience, it doesn't matter what deal you sign. The owners cannot help themselves. They are going to spend the money.

"If Lou Lamoriello can figure out a way to sign (Ilya) Kovalchuk to the (17-year) deal he signed, then anybody can or is going to be willing to (sign guys). Everybody looked at Lou as running an organization they wanted. Then, he starts doing that stuff, it opens the door for everybody."

Ray said the players would just have to be patient once the new CBA is in place.

"I don't think as a player you're going to hit that home run as soon as the CBA is signed. It's going to take time," said Ray. "(The owners) are going to start paying. The whole, 'We're worried about the guys coming after us.'

"When I first started playing, I signed and Rick Vaive was making $400,000. Most of us anywhere from $75,000-to-$200,000 and we're all like, 'Can you imagine making $400,000? That would be the greatest thing in the world.' It wasn't five years and everybody was at that. The salaries have progressively gone up since. Don't sit there and worry about the guy coming up after you."